KUALA LUMPUR - For slightly over a decade, the anti-establishment sentiment in Malaysia was closely associated with large turnouts at regularly organised street protests, which culminated in the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition losing federal power in 2018 for the first time in history.

But in the four years since then, the most famous kick-starter of Malaysia's street protest scene - the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih), has moved away from holding mass rallies after it came under a new leadership, creating a vacuum that is clearly felt by activists.